Ardmore School Newsletter

* Hello * Kia ora * Namaste * Malo e lelei * Talofa lava * Kia orana * Guten Tag* Nǐ hǎo * Sat sree akaal * Hola * Chào bạn * Bula * Hallo *As-salamu ‘Alakum

At Orange, face masks are no longer required at school. However public health advice is that masks continue to be strongly encouraged when indoors. Wearing a mask is a key health measure that slows the spread of COVID-19 in indoor settings. For that reason, we ask that visitors to the school, including parents and whānau, wear a mask whenever they are indoors on school grounds. If there are a high number of cases at school or in the community, we may ask that masks are worn in classrooms for a time.

At Orange, students aged 12 and above are still required to wear a face mask on the school bus or public transport.

We will continue to keep all the other health measures in place at school that we know slow the spread of COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette, appropriate physical distancing whenever we can. Most importantly, please keep your tamariki at home if they are sick.

We are looking forward to a few less restrictions and returning to school life that is a bit closer to normal.

Morning drop-offs will remain the same. Members of the Leadership Team will be on duty from 8.30am in the bus bay to welcome ākonga /students, and support them to exit their vehicles. Parents and whānau are welcome to park and take their tamariki into school if they wish. If your child is late you will need to enter them through the school office and ensure they are signed in.

Afternoon pick-ups will return to normal and require parents and whānau to park and come into school to collect their tamariki. For now there will be no 'Ms Peterson's drive-through' option operating. A reminder that for the safety of pedestrians, there is no parking in the bus bay. Also, please remember that if you are using the bus bay to turn around please drive very slowly.

Parents are welcome to collect their tamariki from their classroom at 3pm. Any tamariki not collected at 3pm will be waiting in the Quad (area under the red shade sails bordered by Rooms 1 - 4). There will be a kaiako / teacher supervising them. If it is wet, tamariki will wait in their classrooms to be collected. Most importantly no child is able to leave the school grounds without an adult.

I'm sure you'll all understand the challenges of tidying up and getting your whānau out the door by a set time. Multiply this by the number of tamariki in your child's class and you'll appreciate the focus needed to make this happen in a classroom. If you should come into school before 3pm please help your child's teacher by staying away from the classroom windows and doors, so your child isn't distracted by your presence.

3.10pm All bus children leave school

3.22pm Village Way drop off

3.23pm Airport entrance drop off

3.30pm Heard Road drop off (including Lauren Grove)

3.35pm Clevedon Road (Robb Street) drop off

3.40pm Baptist Church drop off

Currently the completion date for the Rooms 1 - 3 renovation is Friday 27th May. The builders, like so many others, have been struck with COVID delays, but with most of the materials now on site, we'll look forward to the Rooms 1 - 3 tamariki enjoying the second half of Term 2 in their renovated classrooms.

In the second week of this term Room 12 will be having their windows replaced. Currently the windows open out onto the Junior Quad causing a hazard. These windows are being replaced with sliding ones, so the cones in front of Room 12 will no longer be needed, giving tamariki a bit more space to play. During the week 2, Room 12 will be working in the staffroom.

The school has been made aware by Linewize that there are videos of a razor-toothed teddy bear character, known as Huggy Wuggy, who sings about ‘hugging and killing’ in videos that have gone viral among children. Police have also been warning parents and schools to be vigilant of younger children engaging with the now-viral social media character - which invites viewers to ‘take their last breath’.

The videos have slipped through the filters on YouTube and TikTok due to their innocent name. Malicious creators are also deliberately hiding scary scenes of the character in content aimed at children, meaning young children are viewing the clips.

Please make sure you have internet safeguards in place and check your child's viewing history regularly.

Ruru Whānau tamariki will be taking part in the Wonder Project Rocket Challenge this term. It’s an amazing programme designed to get young Kiwis excited about STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths. The programme pairs STEM professionals with teachers to deliver the challenge and we need more volunteers to help our kids design, build and launch water rockets!

See what it is about in this video

Keen to help? It only requires 1 hour a week for 6–8 weeks during Term 2, either online or in their classroom if possible. The Wonder Project team provides everything we need so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guide our students on the Rocket Challenge. We are looking for passionate and committed professionals working in STEM fields who want to make a real difference – and inspire wonder in the minds of young people in their community.

Register online at wonderproject.co.nz

https://wonderproject.nz/programmes/rocket-challenge/

......'Let your child be frustrated'

When my two grandson's faces scrunch up with annoyance or frustration about something not going the way they want it to…

I take a breath and tell myself, “It’s okay. It’s part of life and learning.”

We don't need to prevent or save children from feeling frustrated. Tamariki need to experience it to build ‘frustration tolerance’.

We need to guide them in learning how to tolerate feeling uncomfortable or annoyed or upset or irritable.'

The PSG are an amazing group of people from our school community, who work to raise funds for our school. Last year alone, even though we were all in lockdown for such a long time, they raised over $23,000. Their recent projects have included the installation of the two bucket swings and our amazing sandpit on the field.

This year their fundraising focus is shade sails for the basket swing and sandpit on the field.

While the fundraising planning for the year is done, unfortunately due to changes in circumstances, they need people to fill their leadership roles of Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. The Chairperson is the coordinator of the group. They liaise with the school and run the meetings. The Secretary takes the meeting minutes and also supports the Chairperson with communication. The Treasurer keeps an eye on the group's finances. They are supported by the school's accountant who prepares the monthly financial report for the group. If you would like more information please email: ardmorepsg@gmail.com

We have a limited number of Yearbooks left from 2017 to 2021 which we are now selling at a reduced cost. Purchases can be made through Kindo only on a first in first served basis.

PUBLIC NOTICES

Email: office@ardmore.school.nz
Website: https://www.ardmore.school.nz/
Location: 599 Papakura-Clevedon Road, Ardmore, New Zealand
Phone: 09 299 6228